Quiz Akabusi’ may not have been a team name, but plenty of sports fanatics were getting quizzical as they competed to be crowned ‘the sportiest of them all’ at the Variety Sports Quiz last week.

A packed room of 22 tables took part in the popular Variety Sports Quiz at the home of Chelsea FC, Stamford Bridge, London and were mixed with a number of sports personalities including footballers, Lee Chapman and Paul Hart.

Before the quiz kicked off, the audience were treated to a number of close-up magic tricks during the drinks reception, thanks to magician and long-term Variety supporter, David Redfearn. Thank you to David for impressing the crowd with card tricks that never fail to surprise!

The evening was organised by Variety Sports Committee Chairman, John E Barnett, alongside his committee, and hosted by Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart who did a sterling job with the auction that was worthy of a place on the podium. Thanks to Ed for being a brilliant host and for all of his support over the years!

The crowd were in very safe hands with the exceptional quizmaster and the evening’s honoury referee, Anthony Blackburn, who provided hours of trivia to test even the biggest sports fanatics.

We were also honoured to have a real Gold medallist with us for the evening – Paralympic athlete, Giles Long MBE, who spoke of his dedication to sport and introduced our appeal video. Thank you to Giles for providing inspiration and supporting the event.

At full-time the victorious team were ‘Quizzy Rascals’ from Misccon De Reya Lawyers, who blew the rest of the competition out of the water and established themselves as the front runners from the word ‘go’, meaning the quiz couldn’t be classed as a game of two halves!

Unfortunately, it was our PR representatives, DDA PR, who didn’t exactly ‘throw in the towel’ but were performing unusually below par on the evening, as they took home the ‘consolation prize’ of lemons. As they say, it’s the taking part that counts, but we believe that if it had been a movie quiz, they would have easily retained pole position!

As we hang up our boots for another year, we would like to thank everyone for their support of the event and congratulations to all who took part – we hope to see you again in 2013!